paradisa | 011 - Whoosh Splat

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chell

011 - Whoosh Splat

[Chell opens her eyes slowly and finds that the tip of her nose, which is poking out from under the blankets is cold. Nothing new about that. The temperature has been getting colder lately after all, though she's very confused as why. But when she cracks open an eye and peers around, she's instantly awake and scrambling out of the block of ice that has become her bed, wishing up something very very thick to wear and snagging up her journal before running toward her door and out into the hall. And everywhere she sees the same thing.

Ice. Chell knows about ice. She's read about it in books and the like. But she's never seen it. Not till now anyhow. And when she makes it to a window and peers out, the whole ground outside is white, and there's something white mounded up in billowing piles blown by a wind that's howling around the eaves.

Snow? Could it be snow? Seriously? She'd always wanted to see snow. Ever since she'd read about it in that book about Santa and his eight tiny reindeer, she'd been waiting. And now here it was.

She wasn't sure how to dress to go out in it, but she was going to do it. Running quickly, she slid down the bannister of the tower stairs, tore across the lobby like the hounds of hell were chasing her and bolted outside... straight into a snowdrift.

Aiyee that was cold. Dragging her journal out of the pocket of her coat, she wrote a message...]

Snowdrifts are cold. I have heard of something called snowballs? But how does one make them if the snow is too cold to touch long enough to pack them effectively?

[OOC: Feel free to run into her between the lobby or outside, or whatever. Open like an open thing.]

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Oh that's an easy fix! Just wear gloves.

[Chell thinks about it for a moment. Gloves... They'd have to cover your hands. Thinking hard, she wishes up a pair of hand garments that would cover her hands and keep them toasty warm but still allow her to touch the snow. Then she writes back a message...]

Thank you! Now. What do you do with these snowballs once you make them?

Well, you throw them at people! It's a game, you see. You throw snowballs at them, and they throw them back!

I hope you're dressed warmly enough. Have you ever seen snow before?

[Chell writes back quickly.]

I... have on a coat... and pants. And no I've never seen snow.

[She's moving as she's writing, and suddenly hits a particularly slick patch of snow, and there's snow caught in the metal parts on the bottom of her boots. With a sudden surprised yelp, she slips, skittering and falls face-first into the drifts. The pen flies out of her hand, and her journal does too. There's the sounds of scrabbling and digging as she manages to extract herself and stand up, and she totters off a little more carefully in search of her journal. On finding it a few feet away, she wishes up another pen and writes back...]

How should one dress for this sort of thing. I just fell into a snowdrift.

[Don't mind her. She'll be carefully stalking back toward the castle now.]

[Gren is making his way towards the lobby...carefully, mind you...when Chell bursts out and into the snow. He blinks and moves closer]

Hey. You okay over there?

Are you alright?

[Jennifer waits a little anxiously for Chell to start talking again and is relieved when her handwriting appears after a few moments.]

It's hard to walk on snow and ice when you're not used to it, I know. A coat and pants are a good start; gloves will keep your hands warm. If you're going to be out in it for a while, wear a hat.

[Chell wanders back into the ice castle, covered in snow... Smooth move, Chell... and makes a beeline for her room, where she sits on the floor, picking the snow out of her boots. But then she notices what Jennifer's said and writes back.]

I also think I need to wear actual boots, as opposed to mine. Long Fall Boots don't work well on snow.

[She'll be trying her hand at wishing up some actual winter boots, a hat and gloves now, thanks.]

[Hey Gren. Yup. She's okay. Just standing there in the snow, staring at it with open wonder. Nope. She's never seen snow... But when she notices him, she pulls out her journal and writes a message, in the hopes he's close enough to read it, or happens to have his on his person somewhere.]

I've never seen snow before. I have read about it, but never seen it.

[She takes a few steps in it, and her boots kind of bury themselves. Hmm. Walking on ice had been a little easier. She'd been so sure she wasn't going to fall...Well, she doesn't fall this time, but she raises one foot and then the other, trying to get the snow out that's caught in the metal springs on the bottoms of her boots. Pff. Nobody ever warned her against wearing Long Fall Boots in the snow. Slowly, she walks back toward the castle, and joins Gren.]

[He raised an eyebrow at the message - more the fact that she'd written to him rather than spoken aloud - though decides not to ask about it right now. No reason to make the poor thing self conscious if she was mute or on a loss.

Gren walks out a few steps and offers and arm so she can steady herself]

Well, I think they call that crash course, then.

Interesting boots you have there.

[She takes his offered arm and flounders out of the snow. There's also a greatful smile to go with the taking of that arm... And another written message.]

I was raised in a science testing facility. These are Long Fall boots, designed to keep me from dropping very valuable equipment and damaging it. As a side effect, they keep me from dying on impact. The equipment testing I was doing required tumbling from very high places.

[Then as a written afterthought...]

My name is Chell. What is yours>?

You just need practice, too, I think. You didn't hurt yourself or anything, did you?

I'm Gren...

[Wait wait wait. BACK THE SCIENCE TRUCK UP...]

I'm sorry...I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying people tested things on you?

[She writes back another message.]

It's nice to meet you, Gren. And yes. That's what I mean. I was testing the ASHPD, which makes man-sized holes, or portals, in space. If you have two portals, you can get from one place to another very effectively, both vertically and horizontally.

[She's writing in quotes now, quoting what GLaDOS had already said.]

"The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is now worth all the combined incomes and organs of subject name here's hometown."

[She writes back, as soon as she's got her hat and gloves.]

No. I didn't. I'm fine. And I think you're right.

[He places a hand on her journal, horrified at the implications]

People are always worth more than any scientific progress.

Just continue to be careful! Even when you've been around snow your whole life, it can still be dangerous.

[Chell writes back almost instantly. Nooo way is she ever gonna just run out like that again. She learned her lesson.]

I will, Jennifer, I promise.

[She looks at him, utterly confused before writing back.]

But I am a test subject. That is what I was raised to do, as long as I can remember. But I guess I'm a person now too.

[She's really floored by the idea that people are worth more than science. Don't mind her, Gren. She's just standing there, staring at you like you just asked her to solve a quadratic equation.]

Good. Let me know if you need more help.

[The look becomes deeply sympathetic. He'd only been subject to that for less than a year it was enough]

You were always a person.

[A genuine, though smile crosses her face, as she writes back.]

Thank you. Sometimes I forget that. It helps to be reminded. You are very nice.

[When Chell writes back, there's a little doodle of a smiley face inside the O in the word you]

Thank you.

[He smiles and shrugs]

Don't mention it.

Word of advice, though, those boots won't help you much in the snow.

[She thinks about Gren's word of advice for a minute before writing back.]

What sort of boots would you recommend?

Just...flat ones? Maybe with thick rubber tread. Sometimes the whole boot can be made of rubber so the snow doesn't soak through.

[Chell grins, and sets to wishing. Before too long, she has a nice pair of rubber boots... Unfortunately, the Castle has a sense of vicious irony! The boots she winds up with are bright, eye-searing orange.

Chell stares down at her boots, eyebrows raised and glares back toward the Castle.]

...not a fan of orange?

[She lets out the tiniest, teeniest ironic chuckle. Then she writes an explanation.]

When I was in the testing facility, my jumpsuit was EXACTLY that shade of orange.

[She picks up a snowball and hurls it at the castle with a satisfying thwack.]

[OOC: Can you tell I like onomatopoeia?]

[Gren watches her do this and then, with a wry twist of a smile, scoops up a large handful of snow, packs it tightly, and hurls it hard against the stone wall]

I echo that sentiment.

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011 - Whoosh Splat

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